Category Archives: Romans

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

Dear God, debt is one of those interesting things that can be hard to evaluate. I think there’s a range of opinions on the types of debt and if some is more acceptable than others.

For me, I put debt on a spectrum. If all debt is “bad,” then I would say, on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being least bad and 10 being most bad, something like a mortgage would be a 1, a car payment would be a 3, credit card debt would be a 6, and debt to loan sharks would be a 10. Frankly, in my mind, the “badness” of debt is often directly proportional with the interest rate you’re able to get for it.

I remember going to a church that was in the middle of a building campaign. They were trying to do it with no debt, but they hit a milestone where the builder needed their next draw by a certain day in the middle of the construction. They appealed to the congregation to prayerfully consider giving an extraordinary amount to meet this need. I was telling my dad the story and that the church was trying to do this debt free and he said, “They are already in debt. They owe the builder more than they have so they are in debt to the builder.” So I guess it’s possible to lie to ourselves when it comes to our debt.

For my wife and me, we have one mortgage for our house and we have one car payment. Both payments are low and a manageable and combined total about 15% of our monthly gross income. This level of debt allows us some freedom in not owing a bunch of people every month and having room to take on a debt of an emergency were to arise.

Father, I don’t want to miss the other point of this passage, which is to love one another. That is the debt that will always be owed. Love others through me. Help me to always avoid the thought that I have done enough. When I wake up in the morning, let that be the debt that is on my mind, and when I go to sleep, let it be the debt I take with me into my nightly rest. Give my wife and me wisdom and discernment as we manage our personal finances and thank you for the financial blessings that have allowed us to keep our debt so low. We certainly did not do it on our own. Others have been good to us, and you have been very good to us.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

Dear God, it seems like my source for daily Bible verses, Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day, has been focused a lot on redemption for sins lately. Maybe it’s an Easter thing, but it makes me think of my pastor in high school. My criticism of him, in retrospect, is that he spent almost every Sunday talking about your grace and hardly any time talking about discipleship. It left me having to largely figure out relationship with you on my own.

Faith in you without discipleship becomes just a philosophy by which I live my life. If I am a Christian who isn’t pursuing relationship with you, in the end, I am nothing more than a person who has added the Christian philosophy into my life, but I’m not giving the Holy Spirit opportunities to transform me into a new creation. I don’t leave room for conviction for my sins. I don’t open myself up to changing my mind on issues. I don’t die to myself, take up my cross, and really follow you.

Father, take me farther down the road today. Help me to use prayer time like this to consider my beliefs and take a step closer to your heart. Help me to glorify you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:20-23

Dear God, I’ve never been much of a scripture memorizer, but Romans 6:23 is one that my high school youth minister had us memorize as he taught us how to lead someone to you: Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10. Those were to be our go-to verses. Funny how I can remember that over 30 years later. I’d say that’s the evidence of an effective youth minister.

Thinking of our sin and being a slave to it, I had a—oh, what’s the word—I’ll say tricky conversation with a friend yesterday morning. He was talking about some things his 17-year-old son is doing that concern him from a sinfulness standpoint. He and his wife have told the son they disapprove. They’ve had him talk with the youth minister at their church with seemingly little effect. I wasn’t sure how to counsel him because I’m actually not sure where I am on the topic. It’s a complicated world. My best advice to him was to make sure that, above all else, their son feels loved. Loved by them, loved by the youth minister, but most of all, loved by you.

I talked to my wife about the situation over lunch and she had really wise words—“I guess my question would be, what do you hope to accomplish? Are you trying to convince him he’s wrong because you can’t convince or convict a 17-year-old of anything?” Yes, that’s right. It’s the Holy Spirit that convicts and our heart chooses how to respond.

Father, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. And if you confess with my mouth the Jesus is Lord, and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Save me, Father. I believe in Jesus. I confess that He is my Lord. Take care of my friend’s son and help all of them to work this out before the glory of your throne.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:20-23

Dear God, how much shame do I feel for the things I used to do and the things I still do?

On Sunday, I gave a sermon that included the sin of grumbling—especially against leadership. Then the next day I found myself really wanting to grumble about people. In fact, someone who heard the sermon asked me what kind of interactions I’ve had with someone else and I said, “Well, in the spirit of not grumbling, I’m not going to answer that.” Even that was too harsh and mean in nature, but it was truly the nicest thing I could think to say at the time and it’s still the nicest think I have to say.

Father, I must never forget that I have a long way to go before I am even close to being your holy servant. I am still a slave to so much that isn’t holy. I’m sorry. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for what you did through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Thank you for giving me a chance at making my little life on earth something that might make a difference for your Kingdom.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:26-28

Dear God, my wife and I were talking about one of our children and how things keep going a different direction than we hope. My comment to her was, “Well, we are praying for her so I’m going to assume this is the path God has and things are happening the way they are supposed to happen.”

There have been times in my life where I’ve had no idea what to pray and I’ve been down to groans and just letting the Holy Spirit pray for me and put my hope in the idea that you understand. And I think you always do. Well, I know you always do.

Father, the more experience I get with you the more I am willing to absorb bad times and look beyond my current circumstances to see that there could still be a good outcome down the line—maybe not for me, but for your overall plan. So please help me to remain at peace in all situations and to pass on what I have learned from experience. Help me to also accept what others with a message from you have to teach me. Whether it is a wise friend or any other source, help me to always hear your voice when you are speaking.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

Romans 13:8-10

Dear God, so I “owe” it to people to love them. I mean, I kind of knew that I owed it to you to love them, but I’d never considered the idea that I owe it to them.

Right now, I’m spending a few days meeting with a bunch of different people. It’s going to be easy for me to love some of them, but for some, it sure doesn’t feel like I owe them love. Some of them have hurt people I naturally love. Some of them will not respect my love for you. And some of them need your light and healing. In some cases, it will take dying to myself to love them.

Father, especially for the next three days, help me to love both naturally and unnaturally. Help me to be your ambassador of peace. Help me to fulfill your complete law by exhibiting the love I have the opportunity to show to everyone with whom I come into contact.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Dear God, “neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow…” That’s an interesting thing to include in things that will not separate us from your love. On the one had, Jesus taught us to consider the lilies of the field and not worry, but here Paul is telling us that there’s grace for our humanness and brokenness. As we slowly work out our faith and learn not to worry, there is still room in your heart for us to do that.

Whenever I think about people with reason to worry I think about a father in Syria or The Sudan who cannot protect his wife, his children, or even himself from despots. I think about the sex trafficking victim who will likely never be rescued while she’s alive. I think about myself and my legitimate concern for my children as they live in the world. These fears aren’t sin. They are real, and they are the things that bring me to my knees. In my case, there is the opportunity for me to bring these and other concerns I have to you and learn to live in your peace through them. But for some others that I mentioned here, that opportunity for peace doesn’t exist—at least a peace that I’m capable of understanding. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t there to love each one.

Father, I really do feel your love and grace. Thank you. Thank you for your forgiveness and your provision. Thank you that your love for me is beyond anything that I can do to separate me from you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” ) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Romans 8:35-37

Dear God, I confess to you that I cannot stand prosperity Gospel preachers. I truly think of them as an enemy of your message. I can’t really think of any New Testament characters of whom A certain pastor would say they are living their best life now. There’s a lot of poverty, suffering, and death among the faithful.

I’ve always struggled with really understanding your message through the book of Job, but I read a Biblical commentary on the book that really helped me. Actually, I got part way through the commentary, but there was this one part that really spoke to me. It talked about six different levels of faith that I’ll list here.

1 Intuitive – projective faith: is associated with the child’s faith, based upon fantasy and imagination

2 Mythical-literal faith: is the family faith of the early school years, which is sustained by moral rules and either/or thinking

3 Synthetic – conventional faith: as an adolescent phase that conforms to the tradition of the community and creates the “kind” of person of faith it models or rejects

4 Individuative – reflective faith: is the faith of the young adult who is capable of critical thinking, independent reflection, and dialectical reasoning

5 Conjunctive faith: is a mid-life and old-age faith that integrates self-identity with a comprehensive world of you to see the order, coherence, and meaning of life in order to serve and be served

6 Universalizing faith: is the rare faith of the world citizen who incarnates a transcendent vision into a disciplined, active, and self-giving life. (Page 22)

The author made the argument that Job and his friends start out the book in the third level of faith. In their custom, good fortune expressed your favor and bad fortune your displeasure. But through Job’s suffering he learned that there is actually very little connection between a seemingly #blessed life and your favor. This is something that the early Christian Church surely figured out as they suffered for their pursuit of you.

My wife just interviewed an author who is writing a series of books that includes a Christian character. He is three books into a series that he expects to ultimately be 14 books. He told her that at some point the character will have multiple children and the youngest one will be the most like him and yet they will experience a period of deep estrangement. The character’s faith will not, and really should not, protect him from this kind of pain.

Father, I know people who have really suffered—much more than me. My prayer is that you will help me to be a minister to them and to embrace the path you have for me regardless of what it might be. And for my relatives who are suffering, please do not let this pain go in vain. Make it count, and make it count for your glory.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.Romans 13:1-5

Dear God, I would say that Paul was naive to say this, but I know it was written to Romans during a Roman Empire that could be ruthless towards Christians so it makes me think I’m missing a context that would change his meaning from what I’m reading this morning. Reading it just leaves me thinking, what is he talking about?

It’s not like I’m a rebellious person, but does all authority really come FROM you? I can see where you allow rulers and authorities to come over us when we go our own way as a society. I also believe, however, in civil disobedience. I believe in the ability to stand up to authority and tell it that it is wrong. Even Paul pushed back against authority to the point where he was imprisoned and killed. So where is this passage coming from? What is he really talking about?

Father, if this passage is telling me that to reject all government because I only recognize you or my church as my authority is wrong because I also need to subject myself to the society within which I live and accept its governmental authority then I’m okay with it. But if it’s telling me that you put Hitler in charge and those in Germany in 1933-1945 should have been willingly subject to him then I’m sorry, but I don’t think that reflects your heart. So I assume I’m missing something from Paul here. I’ll need to ask him for some clarification when I get there one day. 😉

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen